The students at Carbon High School hung out with members of the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, plus the Utah Highway Patrol to learn about the harsh realities and understand the dangers of distracted driving through a series of hands-on exercises.

“We’re going to do a distracted driving course, which is kind of fun. It gives the kids an opportunity to text and drive in a safe environment, but to show how distracted they are and how bad they drive when they are distracted,” stated Sheriff Jeff Wood. “I’ve told my kid that we are seven minutes from the school to the house, if you get a text in that seven minutes it will wait. I think in etiquette people think that they need to respond immediately or someone will get their feelings hurt but it’s just not worth the rick.” Texting and driving is a problem for all drivers, however, teens are considered to be a high-risk group when it comes to distracted driving.

The Utah Highway Patrol was in attendance too with their Seat Belt Convincer machine. The purpose for the machine is to allow students to experience the importance of seat belt usage by replicating a crash at an impact of five to seven miles per hour.

Law enforcement officials hope that the event will provide information about good decision making while operating a vehicle.